Response rates in organizational science, 1995-2008: A meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers

This study expands upon existing knowledge of response rates by conducting a large-scale quantitative review of published response rates. This allowed a fine-grained comparison of response rates across respondent groups. Other unique features of this study are the analysis of response enhancing tech...

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Main Authors: ANSEEL, Frederik, LIEVENS, Filip, SCHOLLAERT, Eveline, CHORAGWICKA, Beata
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Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2010
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5652
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6651/viewcontent/responseratepaper.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.lkcsb_research-66512019-08-23T06:12:38Z Response rates in organizational science, 1995-2008: A meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers ANSEEL, Frederik LIEVENS, Filip SCHOLLAERT, Eveline CHORAGWICKA, Beata This study expands upon existing knowledge of response rates by conducting a large-scale quantitative review of published response rates. This allowed a fine-grained comparison of response rates across respondent groups. Other unique features of this study are the analysis of response enhancing techniques across respondent groups and response rate trends over time. In order to aid researchers in designing surveys, we provide expected response rate percentiles for different survey modalities.We analyzed 2,037 surveys, covering 1,251,651 individual respondents, published in 12 journals in I/O Psychology, Management, and Marketing during the period 1995-2008. Expected response rate levels were summarized for different types of respondents and use of response enhancing techniques was coded for each study.First, differences in mean response rate were found across respondent types with the lowest response rates reported for executive respondents and the highest for non-working respondents and non-managerial employees. Second, moderator analyses suggested that the effectiveness of response enhancing techniques was dependent on type of respondents. Evidence for differential prediction across respondent type was found for incentives, salience, identification numbers, sponsorship, and administration mode. When controlling for increased use of response enhancing techniques, a small decline in response rates over time was found.Our findings suggest that existing guidelines for designing effective survey research may not always offer the most accurate information available. Survey researchers should be aware that they may obtain lower/higher response rates depending on the respondent type surveyed and that some response enhancing techniques may be less/more effective in specific samples.This study, analyzing the largest set of published response rates to date, offers the first evidence for different response rates and differential functioning of response enhancing techniques across respondent types. 2010-09-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5652 info:doi/10.1007/s10869-010-9157-6 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6651/viewcontent/responseratepaper.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Response rate Response enhancing technique Survey Respondent type Sample Meta-analysis Human Resources Management Organizational Behavior and Theory
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Response rate
Response enhancing technique
Survey
Respondent type
Sample
Meta-analysis
Human Resources Management
Organizational Behavior and Theory
spellingShingle Response rate
Response enhancing technique
Survey
Respondent type
Sample
Meta-analysis
Human Resources Management
Organizational Behavior and Theory
ANSEEL, Frederik
LIEVENS, Filip
SCHOLLAERT, Eveline
CHORAGWICKA, Beata
Response rates in organizational science, 1995-2008: A meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers
description This study expands upon existing knowledge of response rates by conducting a large-scale quantitative review of published response rates. This allowed a fine-grained comparison of response rates across respondent groups. Other unique features of this study are the analysis of response enhancing techniques across respondent groups and response rate trends over time. In order to aid researchers in designing surveys, we provide expected response rate percentiles for different survey modalities.We analyzed 2,037 surveys, covering 1,251,651 individual respondents, published in 12 journals in I/O Psychology, Management, and Marketing during the period 1995-2008. Expected response rate levels were summarized for different types of respondents and use of response enhancing techniques was coded for each study.First, differences in mean response rate were found across respondent types with the lowest response rates reported for executive respondents and the highest for non-working respondents and non-managerial employees. Second, moderator analyses suggested that the effectiveness of response enhancing techniques was dependent on type of respondents. Evidence for differential prediction across respondent type was found for incentives, salience, identification numbers, sponsorship, and administration mode. When controlling for increased use of response enhancing techniques, a small decline in response rates over time was found.Our findings suggest that existing guidelines for designing effective survey research may not always offer the most accurate information available. Survey researchers should be aware that they may obtain lower/higher response rates depending on the respondent type surveyed and that some response enhancing techniques may be less/more effective in specific samples.This study, analyzing the largest set of published response rates to date, offers the first evidence for different response rates and differential functioning of response enhancing techniques across respondent types.
format text
author ANSEEL, Frederik
LIEVENS, Filip
SCHOLLAERT, Eveline
CHORAGWICKA, Beata
author_facet ANSEEL, Frederik
LIEVENS, Filip
SCHOLLAERT, Eveline
CHORAGWICKA, Beata
author_sort ANSEEL, Frederik
title Response rates in organizational science, 1995-2008: A meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers
title_short Response rates in organizational science, 1995-2008: A meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers
title_full Response rates in organizational science, 1995-2008: A meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers
title_fullStr Response rates in organizational science, 1995-2008: A meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers
title_full_unstemmed Response rates in organizational science, 1995-2008: A meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers
title_sort response rates in organizational science, 1995-2008: a meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2010
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5652
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6651/viewcontent/responseratepaper.pdf
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